Saturday Morning Sun

[Pig]

Nice surprise I was not expecting the Sun this morning, forecasts pah

Lovely prom at the 5 O'clock position very explosive, It has a very similar shape to a very mature Oak tree, another large spread around the 9 and 2 O'clock positions

Lovely surface detail, lots of granulation and plage.

Only two major areas of sunspots visible at this magnification 9mm, I will get the Nagler out and zoom right in after writing this.

If it stays cloud free it looks like another good day for solar viewing

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Just had the sun peeping through the clouds here, and that prom looks nice. Some nice surface detail too. Sky not clear enough to do a fair test of the Lunt zoom

[Pig]

I bet you are itching to give it a go Michael   I love new gear.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

North of the big prom on the eastern limb, just below the three o'clock position, a small bright structure has formed on the limb. Could develop into something interesting

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I bet you are itching to give it a go Michael   I love new gear.

I was fortunate enough to have reasonably clear skies yesterday, just when it had arrived. The comfort of the EP is a bit less than the long eye relief EPs I used to date, but the images were comparable. To really test the optics properly you need good conditions.

[Pig]

The clouds have rolled in here Michael, I am getting the odd break albeit a little hazy

That's not a bad start to the zoom Michael, I think clear skies are a must for Ha, you can get away with a tiny bit of haze with the wedge.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

H-alpha actually penetrates haze quite well (quite long wavelength, after all)

[Pig]

[Umbraldot]

Clouds parted here late on. A very quiet disk, 3 groups seen, 1 north, 2 south, R = 33. Only two prominence hearths seen, one on the SE limb and a small hearth of three elements on the W limb. The most interesting feature was a very short east-west filament with accompanying plage in the NW quadrant NE of AR2042; still nothing to get too excited about however!

[Pig]

Quite a bit of consistency in the past 45 minutes, the cloud gods are being quite generous with the gaps resulting in some great views, the lovely prom in the 2 O'clock position is still looking grand

The surface detail is also excellent, the 2 main spots are quite impressive at high zoom, its surprising just how many smaller spots they are made up of.

There are some rather black clouds floating over so I am going to go back out before it is too late.

[Solar_observer]

Just been out myself (first time since first light,in between sleeping and working nights)

2 decent proms,a few tiny others. Noticed a lot more surface detail this time round, filaments,plage and more granularity. It's true what they say about the more relaxed your eye is,the more you see. It's great though just to be able to grab the scope in between clouds,it gives me the fix I need :-)

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[Pig]

Just been out myself (first time since first light,in between sleeping and working nights)

2 decent proms,a few tiny others. Noticed a lot more surface detail this time round, filaments,plage and more granularity. It's true what they say about the more relaxed your eye is,the more you see. It's great though just to be able to grab the scope in between clouds,it gives me the fix I need :-)

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There are times the detail just pops out at you, using averted vision can also produce some stunning results especially with lots of magnification

[Solar_observer]

I've just used a 6mm bco and been surprised how good the view was on the larger proms,slight loss in detail than a lower mag but should be good for really bigger ones. I've got a seben zoom 8-24mm coming on Monday,see how that goes :-)

Also keeping an eye out on Michael s post on the lunt zoom too,looking back I should have held off the seben really.....oh well.

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[Solar_observer]

WHERE DID THAT COME FROM....OMG.....just nipped in to make a drink (scope still trained on the sun)

THE HEAVENS OPENED....had to do a superman move to grab the scope. A little wet but I'm not worried........It's just 1 heavy thunder cloud,must have snook up from the other side of the house

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[Umbraldot]

WHERE DID THAT COME FROM....OMG.....just nipped in to make a drink (scope still trained on the sun)

THE HEAVENS OPENED....had to do a superman move to grab the scope. A little wet but I'm not worried........It's just 1 heavy thunder cloud,must have snook up from the other side of the house

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That happened to me earlier. Fortunately I heard the pittter patter on the conservatory roof. Didn't know I could still move that fast!

[Solar_observer]

Going to be more careful next time,that little tiny scope is my pride and joy (my dob is too) but this one is special......"My precious :-) :-) :-)

Don't know about you lot but I'm sat here now with a drink and just going over in my mind what I've just observed.......Sorry I'm weird lol

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[Umbraldot]

Going to be more careful next time,that little tiny scope is my pride and joy (my dob is too) but this one is special......"My precious :-) :-) :-)

Don't know about you lot but I'm sat here now with a drink and just going over in my mind what I've just observed.......Sorry I'm weird lol

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Quite normal as far as I'm concerned. I actually feel sorry for folks that don't do solar observing. I know I must be hopeless case!

[Pig]

I have a nice cover for mine, I always have it ready to throw it over my scope for them emergencies

http://www.green-witch.com/acatalog/Cases_and_Bags.html#agw_2dscopecoat

[Luke]

Nice report, Shaun. I had to go out for most of the day today (after checking the forecast, of course ), but managed a whole ten seconds of viewing when I got back. Some nice proms and even if it was only ten seconds, I still feel like I got a worthwhile view in

[Pig]

Nice report, Shaun. I had to go out for most of the day today (after checking the forecast, of course ), but managed a whole ten seconds of viewing when I got back. Some nice proms and even if it was only ten seconds, I still feel like I got a worthwhile view in

Thank you, every second counts in this hobby Luke  It is quite surprising how much difference 10 seconds can make.

I was wondering where you were today

[Luke]

If only I had a Lunt zoom, I would have seen the Sun at every sensible focal length in those ten seconds   I will be on standby for any decent gaps tomorrow, the spots I ordered from FLO must surely be just about to come into view, I thought they might show up today, but Sunday it is

[Solar_observer]

solar Sunday, just finished work. Clouds are rolling by but managed to catch a glimpse. All is quite on the solar front,nice bushy prom at 5o'clock. Few smaller ones dotted about too.

The odd filament too but nothing special. For a moment I thought I was witnessing a HUGE filament,turned out to be a floater on my mac 1 eyeball

Anyway trying my hardest to blow the clouds away for another look :-)

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[Solar_observer]

I'm still confused about what this etalon tuner does. I focus the scope using the limb of the sun to get as sharp a view as I can in the sweet spot and then I turn the wheel slowly all the way to the left and back again and I don't see any difference what so ever. Is it supposed to make a big difference or is it a VERY subtle difference? I think mine is just there for show

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[Pig]

I'm still confused about what this etalon tuner does. I focus the scope using the limb of the sun to get as sharp a view as I can in the sweet spot and then I turn the wheel slowly all the way to the left and back again and I don't see any difference what so ever. Is it supposed to make a big difference or is it a VERY subtle difference? I think mine is just there for show

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Do you have a double stack and a pressure tuner ?

When I rotate the etalon tuner all the way to the left I end up with an orange disc with sunspots on it and no other detail whatsoever.

As I then turn it back toward the right granulation starts to develop, at some point betwixt the right and left the granulation is at its optimum.

The difference is quite stark.

[Solar_observer]

No pig.....It's a basic package...b400 blocking filter/ manual etalon tuner.

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